AFL’s $5m media division exceeds internal targets

Chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan says the AFL’s media division has been profitable this year and is on track to break even on its estimated $5 million investment next season.

AFL Media was established at the beginning of 2012 to supply the AFL and its clubs’ websites with content. McLachlan says the website attracted about 3.5 million unique visitors during the 2012 season.

This exceeded internal targets and was more than 30 per cent higher than in 2011. There were also 1.1 million videos viewed by consumers every week, double the 2011 level, and more than 1.4 million downloads of Apple and Android tablet and mobile phone apps for the AFL and its 18 clubs.

“We were obviously always optimistic but we’ve come a long way in a year," McLachlan says.

“We were in line with budget and we had a really successful year financially and it looks like we’ll get payback on all of our capital investment inside two years.

“Both the traffic and commercial side of things have exceeded our expectations."

Under the terms of the $1.25 billion broadcast deal the AFL signed with the Seven Network, Foxtel and Telstra last year, Telstra keeps the revenue charged to the 40,000 subscribers who can watch live matches through the AFL website for a $50 annual fee.

Telstra and the AFL share the advertising revenue from the site, while the AFL also makes money from TV production and custom publishing. This year it produced video and provided content to 14 AFL clubs and also produced an advertisement for a club sponsor and did some production for horse racing channel TVN.

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There were concerns the division, employing about 100 journalists, editors and producers, would break AFL news before traditional media outlets but McLachlan says that has not been the case.

There was also conjecture from some clubs about handing control of their websites to the AFL but McLachlan says “the industry is now comfortable" about the AFL’s approach.

However, AFL Media has not been able to avoid staffing issues, with McLachlan confirming four staff were recently made redundant.

He denies the redundancies are part of the AFL’s $10 million cost-cutting program, saying “It’s not belt-tightening. We have learnt a lot, we know where we are going, and we’ve restructured the organisation to reflect that."

Last week the AFL relaunched its website just after a post-season player trading period that still managed to attract 1.5 million unique visitors in each of the three weeks, as well as an average of 600,000 video downloads, many of which were club supporters viewing footage of new recruits.

The revamped website will feature more video content and statistical analysis, as well as regular columns from AFL club coaches.

But the new site is well behind schedule, with the AFL originally planning its release in May.

McLachlan says: “Inevitably, if you say you’re going to do something and don’t do it, it’s disappointing. But the traffic numbers mean people are pretty comfortable."